Clause 1. — (Increase of Duties on Spirits, Beer, Wine, British Wine, and Tobacco.)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 May 1965.

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Photo of Mr John Eden Mr John Eden , Bournemouth West 12:00, 17 May 1965

The hon. Member will understand, as I do, the difficulties imposed upon us by the rules of order in seeking to keep as closely as we are able to the terms of the Amendment under consideration.

That prevents me replying as fully as I should like, but in one sentence the reason why these taxes are so particularly pernicious in this Bill is that they are only one element in a general range of taxation increases. Under previous Budgets, taxation has been reduced and that has made such imposts more tolerable. The hon. Member must recognise that the present tax makes it more difficult for people to afford the increased costs which taxes generally necessarily impose upon them.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Ridsdale) spoke of the effect the tax will have particularly on elderly people's enjoyment. Hon. Members opposite, just as hon. Members on this side of the Committee, know that in a club or a "pub" elderly people can be seen enjoying their only opportunity of a social gathering in a general meeting place where they can have a glass of beer or some other drink. One may argue that 1d. on beer is not much by way of an increase and that if a person wants beer he will find the extra 1d. to pay for it, but this increase must be seen in the general context of taxation increases right across the board.

That is why these increases are so pernicious and why it is so difficult for people to absorb them literally. A former Secretary of State for Scotland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Argyll (Mr. Noble) spoke most movingly and eloquently about whisky. Whisky is a great earner of foreign currency. One difficulty which my right hon. Friend did not elaborate, although he touched on it, is that whisky takes a long time to mature. Stocks have to be held for many years. The industry must find considerable difficulty in planning ahead, bearing in mind that it has been subjected to so many increases in duty, that the level of stocks must be connected with what is anticipated to be likely home sales and the support to which the product will have in overseas markets.

I hope that the Chancellor will have another look at the proposed further increase in these duties. I well recognise that this is an easy way of getting revenue. I have no doubt that he will say that people will go on drinking and I have no doubt that they will do so. I have no doubt that he will deny that the increase will affect people in a specially hard way. He might even go so far as to say that it would be a good thing for the people in view of the overall financial circumstances in which the Government have placed us if we all had to tighten our belts.

This is so typical of Socialist philosophy that he may trot it out again and suggest that we must be disciplined, that he will determine what is good and what is not good; he will determine what we should spend in our leisure hours and on our pleasures. This is a form of compulsory spending which we on this side of the Committee deplore.

The increase will especially hurt people of limited means. It is rationing by the purse with a vengeance. This is most extraordinary for a Socialist Government who, in their earlier incarnation, imposed physical rationing. They dare not do that now, but they bring in rationing by the purse, which is more despicable. I therefore hope that the Chancellor will reconsider the proposal.